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Slash and femmeslash

Slash fiction is a form of GLBT fiction that is primarily written and read by women. The genre has a strong emphasis on romance and erotic romance. Although the genre originated in the fan fiction community, some original fiction is also written for slash readers. This original fiction is sometimes called original slash.

"Pro slash" is a term referring to professionally published GLBT writings that slash readers especially like, such as gay romance novels. Some pro slash authors have also written slash fan fiction or original slash. However, because fan fiction is looked down upon by many professional editors, pro slash writers have been said to be discouraged from speaking publicly about any slash fiction they may have written.

The term slash is usually used in reference to male homoerotic fiction. Femmeslash (femslash) is the term often used for female homoerotic fiction.

Yaoi and yuri

A related homoerotic fiction genre is yaoi, which grew out of the Japanese fan fiction community. Like slash, yaoi is primarily written and read by women, and like slash, yaoi emphasizes romance and erotic romance. Yaoi draws its inspiration from manga and anime, although some yaoi takes the form of written fiction. Like slash, the yaoi community has original fiction writers. Their stories are often called original yaoi.

Yaoi writers are sometimes treated differently by the professional fiction community than slash writers are. Whereas slash fan fiction is usually inspired by media stories featuring heterosexual men, yaoi fan fiction is often inspired by BL ("Boys' Love"), a Japanese genre of male homoerotic manga, anime, and other media that is professionally marketed to teenage girls. Because fan fiction is not regarded with the same degree of hostility by Japanese publishers as in the West, yaoi writers and artists are sometimes hired to produce BL. Unlike pro slash authors, they are under less pressure to hide their amateur works. As a result, in English, the term yaoi may be used to describe professionally published homoerotic works that have a stronger erotic content than shonen ai. (In Japanese, 'BL' is the preferred term for both explicit and softcore works, while 'yaoi' is somewhat derogatory, and 'shounen ai' refers to a genre from the 1970s that is no longer produced.)